I haven't touched it:
*glad* That's the problem it's actually 'empty'. There are a few example entries but they are commented out by the '#' at the beginning of the lines.
If there is an ~/.xinitrc then it will be used but if there's not (as it is probably the case on your root account) startx will use the system-wide default /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc ('man startx').
You may test by moving your ~/.xinitrc to another name.
But for your config it's usual not to adapt the system-wide but your personal ~/.xinitrc.
Also see the link I gave above.
If everything works well you should be able to continue to set up your environment now, choose a window manager/ desktop environment etc.
Have fun.
Edit: Ah, I see you figured it out. Yeah, I was asking myself what the actual fix was now...
so maybe it was installing xf86-video-modesetting that fixed it?
Yeah looks like, so thanks to SiroccoFR as well. Maybe either this or then Xwrapper.config is needed, but honestly, I don't know. Maybe test it, if you want.
And please don't forget to mark the thread as [SOLVED] then by editing your first post.
]]>I removed Xwrapper.config, and it still works...so maybe it was installing xf86-video-modesetting that fixed it?
Thanks so much for all your help, I really appreciate it!
]]>Do you have a ~/.xinitrc ? If yes what's in there ?
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Startx
Here's the shell output when I ran startx with xorg.conf: https://gist.github.com/drautb/d0f736ee259a232f0717
It's pretty much the same without xorg.conf, the config file line disappears. Sorry again for the Xorg.wrap confusion, thanks for being patient with me.
]]>Should I still be using startx, and the wrap happens implicitly based on my Xwrapper.config?
Yes. Xorg.wrap will be called automatically by Xorg (which is just a shell script now) which will be called by startx LOL , but I don't know if that solves the problem here.
Please try with 'startx' without arguments.
Edit: Forgot to mention Xorg.wrap will then finally call - Xorg.bin. And of course there's a symlink in between from X to Xorg, so yeah, it's extremely ridiculous .
]]># Xorg.wrap
Since you're asking that question...I'm guessing I'm doing it wrong. *blush*
Should I still be using startx, and the wrap happens implicitly based on my Xwrapper.config?
]]>Other than that the ..ctl outputs look fine to me...
Do you think this is the kind of thing that might get fixed by a clean install?
To me, not necessarily, but it's hard to tell.
]]>systemctl --failed didn't list anything.
Do you think this is the kind of thing that might get fixed by a clean install? Or does it smell more like a driver/hardware issue? (Or something else?)
]]>Do you have failed units 'systemctl --failed' ?
Maybe the output of 'loginctl' and 'systemctl status'. I can't really do much with them, exept comparing to mine, but maybe someone can...
]]>Thanks for everyone's help so far!
]]>But I start running out of ideas... btw. thanks to basica for the hint towards permissions.
]]>At the risk of repeating myself, have you tried without /etc/X11/xorg.conf this time ?
Edit: (Not sure if this wording can be taken as, but no offense meant.)
None perceived, none taken. I hadn't tried it without xorg.conf yet. Just now I tried it, and the result was almost the same. With xorg.conf, the screen goes totally black. It looks like the display turns off, but I can't get it back on. Without xorg.conf, the display stays on, but it's still black, with a single underscore in the upper-left corner. (Not blinking, just static.)
]]>